Sarnia-area father and daughter, Ron Broda and Taylor Broda, have a joint art exhibition at Gallery in the Grove, a volunteer-run gallery upstairs at the Bright’s Grove Library.
Their exhibition, Kindred Spirits, opened Saturday and runs through July 8.
Ron Broda is an award-winning paper sculpture artist known for illustrating children’s books and Taylor Broda is a 2019 graduate of the Ontario Collage of Art and Design University in Toronto.
“It’s really an honour,” Taylor Broda said of the chance to show her art alongside her father’s. “I’m so thrilled and ecstatic about it.”
The show, originally planned for 2020, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Seeing everything come to fruition is just amazing,” she said.
Ron Broda studied advertising design in college, then worked in the commercial art world. When a friend gave him a poster of a paper sculpture as a birthday present, Broda decided to give it a try.
It clicked and he eventually made contacts with book publishers.
In 1990, he illustrated the book The Little Crooked Christmas Tree, later released in video form with Christopher Plummer narrating. Several more book projects followed.
Broda moved to Sarnia, his wife’s hometown, and worked for a time as curator of the former Discovery House museum while continuing to create paper sculpture illustrations.
“Three years ago, I had a plan,” he said. “I hadn’t done anything as far as I would call my ‘fine art stuff’ for years and I always wanted to get back to it.”
He built a studio and was volunteering at Gallery in the Grove when another local artist had an exhibition with one his children.
That led to the idea of a show with Taylor, Ron Broda said.
It includes 19 of his paper sculptures, including 17 created in the last six months.
“If there’s any kind of a theme, it’s about nature and for us to keep reminding ourselves how beautiful this planet is,” he said.
Taylor Broda said her 19 pieces in the show are mainly paintings and drawings.
“My stuff is very much mainly portraits, right now,” she said. “I do these strange, abstract-looking alien women.”
Taylor Broda won honourable mention in the juried exhibition, Call out for Colour, at Gallery in the Grove earlier this year.
“I’m really excited to showcase my work in my hometown,” she said.
Gallery in the Grove is open Monday and Thursday, 2 to 5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Admission is free.
